Injuries while abroad are the leading cause of death and disability in travelers! They cause 25 times more deaths than infectious diseases; fortunately in most of the cases travel accident may be preventable…
An estimated 5 million people lost their lives from injures in 2000, more than 90% of these injury death occur in lower and middle-income countries, among persons ages 15-44 year-old. Fractures, lacerations, dislocations and sprains are the most common injuries experienced by tourists.
Injuries can be divided into unintentional and intentional. Examples of the former include road traffic accidents, falls, fires, poisoning, and drowning; examples of the latter are interpersonal and self-inflicted violence. The traditional viewpoint that injuries occur as "accidents" has been challenged over the last decades. Risks can be defined and more important, prevention measures have been implemented that in many cases have had a dramatic effect on the incidence of injuries.
Motor vehicle crashes consistently emerge from the travel medicine literature as the most common cause of injury death for tourists followed by in-water accident. Worldwide, an estimated 1.2 million people are killed in motor vehicle accidents each year, and as many as 50 million more sustain significant injuries.
Traffic accidents are common in foreign tourists for a number of reasons: lack of familiarity with the roads, driving on the opposite side of the road than in one's home country, poor road surfaces without shoulders, unprotected curves and cliffs, and poor visibility due to lack of adequate lighting, both on the road and on the vehicle. Accidents tend to occur more frequently at dusk, whether dawn or evening, in poor weather conditions, at crossroads, while speeding, and while passing other drivers. The increased lateral mobility associated with the presence of cars, trucks, rickshaws, bicycles, motorbikes, public buses and pedestrians sharing one lane promotes vehicular accidents.
Many of the water sports and water-related activities offered to tourists (e.g., surfing, scuba diving, snorkeling, and water-skiing) are both novel and unfamiliar. Even swimming can present difficulties for tourists who have no background, skills or ability in the water. Drowning is consistently reported as a leading cause of injury death among tourists.
In resorts with beaches and rivers, the main causes of death are drowning and cardiac events. Pre-existing medical conditions (notably epilepsy and cardiac disease), inexperience, failure to dive according to a set plan, and fatigue and panic, are the major contributing factors to scuba and snorkeling fatalities. The main non-fatal injuries associated with scuba diving are decompression illness and barotrauma.
By far the most important risk factor for road traffic injuries is the presence of alcohol in the blood of a driver or a pedestrian who is injured. Studies show that 20%-70% of fatally injured drivers have blood alcohol levels higher than legal limits.
Recommendations for avoiding other injuries include staying on one of the lowest floors of high-rise hotels, choosing lodging that has smoke detectors and a sprinkler system, and checking to see where the fire exits are on one's floor. Overall, the use of common sense and avoiding alcohol excess, which contributes to risky behaviors, can prevent many injuries in travelers.
RECOMMENDATION TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS while traveling:
• Seatbelt restrain for all passengers in the car.
• No cellular phone while driving, (included hands-free phones).
• When driving in a foreign country travelers avoid alcohol, fatigue, jet-lag, all night-driving.
• Never drive or ride on a moped or motorbike in a foreign country
• Avoid overcrowded public transport.
• Never swim at an unmarked or unguarded beach
• Have your car and you with a Insurance Company
• Do not bother animals (dog, lizard, bat, etc)
